We are now entering the year of the Dragon - the Black Water Dragon to be exact. And because it is a new year, we all have another chance to see how we are doing with those new year's resolutions. I didn't make any this year. Not because I don't need to make changes in my life or have things about me that need improving. No. I definitely have all of those things. This year I decided instead to do affirmations of myself and the person that I am becoming rather than to focus on the things I need or want to fix.

It is so much easier to pick out the parts of our lives that don't work very well, or that disappoint us. It is equally as easy to find that part of my body that I see every time I look in the mirror. I don't know why I don't see the muscle tone that I have from going to the gym - I only see my thighs that I have never liked. We concentrate easily on the wrong, and it is so much harder to decide what the positive alternative might be.

There is a tapping modality called the Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT. The person using this identifies first what is bothering them and the feelings associated with the issue and taps on these while saying something like: Even though I have this issue, and I have these feelings about this issue, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

And after tapping through the sequence of this, the next stage is to identify what one can change or what choices one has and taps on those. So, as an example: Even though I still have this issue, I am ready for this to be resolved and I choose to let go of this feeling because I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

I generally move the person to a third stage where it is not only a choice that they are making but that they clearly identify what feeling they choose to have and what they are willing to have happen, so: Even though I have had these feelings about this issue, I am ready to accept these new positive feelings and I am ready and willing to have this change/this action in my life because I deeply and completely love and accept myself.

EFT is an incredibly powerful tool because it puts me firmly in the present, forces me to be aware of what I am feeling, and gives me a way to process what I need to do to resolve my current dilemma. It centers me, gives me a sense of calm, and fixes responsiblity for my feelings and actions firmly where they belong - within me.

If you are interested in learning more about EFT, there are a number of YouTube videos demonstrating it in practice. There are also a number of other techniques, generally referred to as meridian tapping techniques that allow you to work with different aspects, different tapping options, and to hone in on the particular meridians in the body that are associated with the issue you are addressing.

It's easy to learn, easy to do, and highly effective. And once you find how it fits in your life you will wonder how you ever got by before knowing EFT.

So, for me the EFT process is very much like how I feel about resolutions. Easy to spot the negatives, but to achieve real relief and progress, I need to emphasis the positives and affirm them for them to be real in my life. Try this different approach, and may this Year of the Dragon be a good one for you.